When Lyudmila Zotova and Polly Whorton met last June as co-workers at a farmers market smoothie stand, they both would start their morning shifts with a cup of oatmeal from Starbucks.

“But we didn’t feel good about it,” said Zotova, 22, of San Diego. “It’s a big corporation and we’re into locally sourced foods. Plus, to be honest, it tasted pretty mediocre.”

Enter The Oatmeal Bar, a new gourmet breakfast booth run by the two young entrepreneurs at the farmers markets in Vista (Saturday mornings) and La Jolla (Sunday mornings). Since it opened Jan. 5, The Oatmeal Bar has built a loyal clientele, serving up more than 200 pounds of steaming oatmeal each month to a steady line of hungry customers.

What makes The Oatmeal Bar unique isn’t the oatmeal, though Zotova says the steel-cut, organic oats from Grain Millers in Eugene, Ore., have a nuttier flavor and heartier texture than traditional rolled oats. The difference is what goes on top — a frozen-yogurt-shop-style range of sweet and savory add-ons that range from the traditional (brown sugar, bananas, apples) to the surprising (goat cheese, ricotta, bacon, pomegranate seeds, glazed pecans, caramel sauce and truffle oil).

The idea of toppings sprang from the fact that neither of the partners grew up eating oatmeal and they found the unadorned porridge a little bland. Zotova, a photographer, immigrated to the U.S. at age 6 with her family from Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, Russia. And La Jolla resident Whorton, 25, has moved back and forth with her family between the U.S. and her native Sydney, Australia, since the age of 3.

Before they launched their business, the women spent months testing toppings, using ingredients sourced from their fellow farmers market vendors.

So far, few customers have been adventurous enough to try the truffle oil, but the Bacon Lover’s bowl (with bacon, pure maple syrup, dates, pine nuts and brown sugar) is a surprise hit.

Customers can order a bowl with two toppings of their choice or they can order one of the “specialty” bowls with four to five preselected toppings. All bowls come with a splash of milk on top (choice of half-and-half, coconut or almond milk).

The top-selling specialty bowl is the Sweet Pistachio, topped with raw honey, strawberries, pistachios and coconut (with coconut or almond milk on top). The partners also have their own eponymous bowls. Polly’s Fave is topped with maple syrup, goat cheese, glazed pecans, cranberries, apples and half-and-half, while ’Mila’s Fave has raw honey, goat cheese, strawberries and almonds.

“I’ve been coming every week since they started. It’s a nice way to start my day,” Kawano said.

The partners are considering expanding to other morning farmers markets and, eventually, opening their own store, perhaps in the Gaslamp Quarter.

Since the launch last month, Zotova and Whorton said it has been mostly smooth sailing. After some trial and error, they figured out the right price point, how to cook just enough to meet demand without running out, and how some farmers markets are not a good fit for their product.

“We tried an afternoon farmers market last week, but we found that people just aren’t in the mood for oatmeal at that time of day,” Whorton said. “So we’re going to stick with morning markets and see how it goes.”